


It's Meant To Be (If You Would Just Listen To Me)

by MatchaMochi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Bad Puns, But also, M/M, allura Plotsss, crack!, fluff!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 19:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17773136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatchaMochi/pseuds/MatchaMochi
Summary: The universe is a blaring neon sign pointing down on them with an arrow as huge as earth that they should be together and yet.And yet.or(Allura ships it.)





	It's Meant To Be (If You Would Just Listen To Me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gwendy1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendy1/gifts).



> So this is my valentines day gift for Wendy!! I had huge fun writing this ahaha I hope you like it and happy valentines day!!!

Her mother’s favourite coffee was something passed down to her by time. She doesn’t want to say it’s a family recipe, that sounds all too pretentious and overrated than what it actually was; something she cooked up when she was ten years old for her mother whenever the tired shadows under her eyes seemed heavier. Where her mother had winced at the overwhelming bitterness but had smiled at her all the same.

‘ _No,_ ’ she’d say, ‘ _Like this,_ ’ and Allura would stare at her agile hands in quiet concentration as she sifts her fingers through the coffee beans, hums a sweet tune to the building warm aroma.

Things were so peaceful then, when her mother was still here. She remembers rainy afternoons, and bright mornings where they’d sit together, sometimes with her father when he’s not busy, and just chat about how the new lot around the corner is looking for any buyers that was interested. How her mother and father was set for preparations and had contacted all of their suppliers, how the renovations were going to start any time now.

The coffee shop downtown had always been their dream ever since forever and Allura was never less devoted than her parents about it. The sunshine pouring down from the veranda, her father’s quiet laughter, her mother’s sparkling eyes. The universe had felt so _right_ then, as if it’s telling her, ‘ _Yes, this is how it should always be,_ ’.

And, well. She won’t ever admit it to anyone, even her close uncle, Coran, but she’s always fancied herself being right about certain things.

‘ _This_ ’ she thinks to herself as she places the green tea Frappuccino on the counter, scowling, ‘ _This is something that should stop. At once._ ’

Lance smiles at her in thanks though, so she smiles back despite the irritation growing inside. Lance beams at her, tilts his head to the side and thanks her once again after he sips and groans at the drink. There are blue roses tattooed along his arms, ends at the edges of his wrist, and he has piercings at his ears. His loud voice echoes through, despite the busy hum of the coffee shop which accompanies them at lunchtime.

Beside them, two paces away to be exact, Shiro’s ear turns red. He coughs quietly, before turning back to Lance and resuming the talk they had earlier. Allura tries not to scream in frustration.

And it’s _this,_ the longing glances, the subtle words, the unresolved _tension_ in the air whenever the two of them goes in her shop for break and try to pretend that they came here to chat together when in reality, they spend it staring at each other’s back, _mooning_ without doing anything at all. _God._ She is just so _done._

The universe is a blaring neon sign pointing down on them with an arrow as huge as earth that they should be together and yet.

“And _then_ I was so out of it I said thank you when I finished doing their tattoo oh my god it was so embarrassing Shiro-” Lance says all of this with flailing arms and a cream moustache on his upper lip while Shiro, broad back and chuckling back at him, runs his hands through his pale hair and proceeds to casually wipe the stain off his lips with his thumb. Allura shakes her head.

_And yet._

* * *

It’s fine, it’s _fine._ Really it is. The thing is; she has a Plan.

It’s fully fleshed out, detailed and _binded_. If it doesn’t work out then literally nothing else will because only she knows how long this silent infatuation they have for each other has been going on. She’s been, well, she’s been their middleman each time (like literally, her café is in the middle of both of their shops) they go to her and cry and complain about, ‘ _Oh Allura he doesn’t like me, who would ever like someone like me, Allura it’s impossible boo freakin hoo_ ’ It astounds her how they are so blind sometime.

No. If Plan A fails then she has back ups longer than Z, people at her back helping her in case anything happens (just Coran really,) and a whole café for her to make this happen. Her parents haven’t left her their business _not_ to make what the universe intended her to do. And if she _was_ going to leave this place, she was going to leave it knowing that both of her close friends are happy and in love. With kids. And fun times in bed.

She squints at the calendar hanging over her wall.

Valentine day is coming.

“Allura?! Are you sure this isn’t too much-?”

“ _Coran,_ I told you, always _always,_ put extra caffeine for the college students-”

* * *

Here’s how it usually goes around here; _Juneberry Café_ opens at eight every morning where Lance’s tattoo parlour steadily wakes up at a slow nine and Shiro’s flower shop opens its doors as early as seven.

Eight’s the magic hour though, eight is when Allura is wiping down the last of the tables, where Lance is finally semi-conscious enough to grab a coffee from her and where Shiro greets them both beside his flowers. They’d chat, Allura will get back inside to get ready for another busy day and she’d stare at Lance and Shiro still talking outside, cheeks red, eyes sweeping. She clicks her tongue. ‘ _God save me please just kiss already,_ ’

They’d come back at lunch hour. The two chairs in front of the counter isn’t reserved but it’s the same seat they go for every day. Allura stares at it fondly sometimes and wonders if she should engrave their name on it. Lance would order some ridiculously sweet drink, while Shiro would settle on hot black coffee or plain jasmine tea.

She’s not always with them, though Coran would push her out to spend time with her neighbours, telling her that he’ll cover for her. She feels content glancing at them from behind the counter anyway, hands so near but not quite touching. How Shiro would laugh sometimes, like it startled him. How Lance howls with it, tears in his ears while unconsciously patting Shiro’s prosthetic arm like he can’t help it.

How Shiro looks at Lance with something akin to wonder, or how Lance blushes a little too long whenever Shiro smiles.

They close their doors at afternoon, and as Allura locks her café for the day, she sets her plan into motion.

* * *

February reaches her shop with special promotions, love styled coffees, and couples streaming in her doors. It’s been so busy she almost forgot to tell everyone about the farewell party she wanted to have the night after valentine’s day.

It wasn’t like they haven’t already known anyway. Allura’s been having long calls with her parents across town and they’ve wanted her to move the café ever since they moved out from their old house. _Juneberry café_ was leaving the area so she sends messages to everyone she knows about the farewell party at her place. Then she goes out to her two neighbours to tell them about it personally.

She comes in Lance’s place at night because she knows he always sleeps late and suddenly it’s a whole session of wine and crying as she breaks out the news that the shop was going to be empty by the end of the month. He looks at her, eyes shining and mouth quivering in a hopeful smile,

“You’ll visit right? I’ll still get to have your Frappuccino, right?”

She laughs, a little teary, “You rascal!” smiles softly, “I see the real reason you like me now,”

He pouts at her, then places a big sloppy kiss on her cheek, “Not trueee, I love you biiiitchh-” Oh yeah, they’re drunk alright. She giggles, then it builds up into a loud cackle and Lance joins her in manic glee for no reason at all. It feels nice.

“I’ll miss you,” he says. She looks at him fondly and says, “Me too my friend, me too.”

They settle into a peaceful silence before she hits the nail. The first gear must be moved for her plan to move along after all.

“Lance,” she says, sober now, and serious. “You have to tell Shiro you want to marry his butt,”

He stares at her in shock, shakes his head and whispers, very very slowly, “But…. our butts haven’t even touched yet,”

“That’s not the _point_ Lance,” she hissed, “How are you ever going to bite his biceps if you don’t tell him you love him?”

“Lluuuraaaa,” he whines at her, cheeks red, “I want to bite his _face,_ ”

“Alright, alright, down boy.” She tuts at him, pats his head, ruffling his hair when he gives her another pitiful whine. “You _are_ going to tell him and I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do Lance,”

He blinks at her when she hooks his chin up to face her. She stares at him, her eyes hard with determination, “You’re going to confess to him, and it _will_ be fine as long as you do as I say, _exactly_ how I say it alright?”

He gulps.

“….alright.”

She nods, “Good. Now here’s what’s going to happen at the farewell party….”

* * *

The very next morning, she bustles in to meet the florist and asks him for more flowers to replace the ones dying in her café. Shiro beams at her when she tells him how much she loved the lavenders from last time, then he smiles sadly as she tells him about the move.

“I know,” he says, brushing off the dirt from his apron, “Lance texted me that he’s going to close shop today because he has a bad hangover,” he smiles somewhere at the windows behind her. A small, fond smile.

Allura smiles innocently, eyes shining, “You text each other?”

“Yeah,”

“Told you about the party too?”

“Ah no,” he blinks, “I guessed that.” He places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes, “I’ll visit you sometime?”

She nods, “And me, you.” bites her lip, “Shiro when are you going to tell La-”

“No Allura.” A sigh, “You _know_ I can’t.”

She sighs too, hugs him a little tighter when she sees the heavy tension at his shoulders. Nothing from this side then. No matter, she knew Shiro won’t ever believe her if she said that Lance liked him, so she isn’t too surprised. She claps her hands together as she leaves the flower shop. Grins.

Step one was a _wonderful_ success.

* * *

So, here’s how it usually goes around here on Valentine’s day; Lance’s tattoo parlour opens strictly at a very late nine-thirty because he _knows_ the barrage of matching couples orders he’s going to get, so he creeps in her café for an extra latte before he slugs in back to work.

Allura opens her café a little late too, she needs to prop all the new signs and decorations for the occasion, changes the prices to discount promotions and special drinks for the lucky couples who has a membership card. Shiro though, he’s busy all throughout the day, its six-thirty when he arranges the rose bouquets in front of his shop and turns the sign open for his customers.

This year is a little different though. When break time comes, Allura makes sure her café is _just_ a little too crowded for any seats to be available at the counter. She tells Coran to force Lance and Shiro, all wide eyed and surprised, to go to the quiet backroom at the back of the shop. He ushers them in with an extreme amount of aggressive politeness while Allura smiles at them demurely at the front.

When they finally sat down, she relishes the slow dawning realisation on both of their faces as they recognize the place they were sitting was in fact, the couples’ corner. She smiles a little too sweetly as she hands them their orders and goes back to handle the other customers. When she gets back behind the counter Coran high-fives her at the back while he goes to the back to arrange all the other ingredients.

All according to plan.

(As they leave, faces red and quiet smiles, she cocks her head to the side and tries not to shout in victory. She taps the counter once, twice, and she thinks, ‘ _YES-_ ’)

* * *

There’s this one crucial point highlighted in her masterplan, underlined a couple of times with red pen and three starred with pink ones and it’s this: Lance must be the one to confess.

She tells him this. Tells him at the night of the farewell party, after the speeches and the games and the food that she’ll have Hunk and Coran be ready with the candles and the chocolates, that she had set up special lights for the ambience, that she’s going to be _ready_ and nothing, _nothing_ was going to go wrong. Anyone in her way is going to face _consequences_. (Lance had looked a little pale then, was she a bit too overboard with this?)

And well, the only part Shiro must play was being there at the party.

It’s going to be _perfect._

 

 

Famous last words.

* * *

“And I know, fifty miles is a bit of a stretch, and I _also_ know some of you are still willing to have my caramel macchiato despite the long journey,” everyone laughs at that, Lance gives out a whistle and a yell, ‘ _In a heartbeat!_ ’ she chuckles and shakes her head, her long earrings reflecting the lights from the ceiling. She takes a deep breath,

“But I made this decision knowing that all of you would support me, and support each other _,_ ” she doesn’t _quite_ glance at Lance and Shiro, but it’s a near thing, “and that where ever I go _Juneberry_ would never forget the help all of you have made for her along the way,” she raises her glasses, and smiles at her friends, eyes twinkling, “To love! And good business!”

All of them shout it to the roofs in unison as they raise their drinks in the air. The music in the background swell in response to the burgeoning noise as Allura’s speech comes to an end. Everyone starts to mingle about the place when she steps away from the makeshift stage.

She smiles and chats with everyone that stops by to talk to her about the move, but her eyes snap to the counter when the light changes to a faint cherry red. Its time for the moment of truth. She tries to stifle down her excited squeal as she sees Coran and Hunk sneaking behind the backroom.

 _There,_ she sees them huddled in a corner of the café, their own private bubble (or so they thought, when she told Coran and he told Hunk, _Hunk_ told Pidge which automatically transferred the info to Matt which inevitably caused the sudden inflation of the amount of people that knew about Lance confessing tonight. No one knows how Keith knew though. He just did.)

So, there they were, talking quietly to each other, picking at that horrible pasta someone brought (It’s Honerva, she _knows it_ ) while approximately 99% of the people around their vicinity talks about something or the other but having their ears pricked up for when the moment will inevitably come. And it _will_. Any moment now. She narrows her eyes at them in concentration.

Lotor laughs at a sophisticated joke, at the side, Coran complains about the state of the economy. They both have their eyes on Lance and Shiro though. The music goes on, then. _Then._

“Eugh, how are you even eating that thing Shiro, it tastes…. _weird,_ ”

“It’s just noodles Lance, nothing wrong with that.”

“No no no, I _know_ noodles man, this ain’t it.”

She squints. When was he going to say it?

“Hmmm, they do taste a bit plastic-ish,”

“See? I told you, these are fakeass noodles. Fake noodles,”

Oh.

Oh no.

“You could almost say they’re-” don’t say it, please don’t say it, her heart can’t hold out, “ _-impasta,_ ”

You could almost _hear_ the inaudible collective groan from around them. Lance pays it no mind and Shiro, he blinks, before his lips wobble a bit, and then he _laughs_ , eyes crinkled close, hands on his stomach. Bless him, he’s so far gone for this boy.

But then, the unthinkable happens.

Shiro sighs, stares at Lance how he’d always stared at him ever since they met and he says in a breathless whisper,

“I love you Lance.”

It’s a distant thing, but she feels the glass she’s holding crack slightly from her tight grip. Someone at the back gives out a surprised gasp, a crash follows that somehow causes the music to abruptly stop. It doesn’t matter anyway, everyone had already long stopped talking.

“I.” Shiro clears his throat, blushes,” I-I mean,” No one has ever heard him stammer before.

Lance looks stunned, the noodles slithers out of his open mouth and lands on his plate with a resounding flop. “Uh,” his eyes widen, “Uhhhh,”

It’s _total silence_ , no one bothers to pretend anymore; they’re outright staring at the awkward drama going on at table seven. Allura does a face palm before she hisses to the universe, “You had _one job,_ ”

Keith breaks the thick silence first. He claps his hands together and announces to everyone, “I won the bet guys, cash in by Monday or be _dead_ by Monday,” and that finally causes the whole room to erupt in loud complains and weak insults. Keith looks smug, as everyone mutters heatedly under their breath. Matt gives out a particularly loud groan, “Dude! Shiro! I _trusted_ you,”

Hunk is beside Keith, (wearing sunglasses even though it was night) shaking his head, “Never doubt the power of love dude,”

And in all this chaos ensuing in her café, Lance blinks out of his initial shock and stares at Shiro hopefully, “You love me?”

“…. yeah.”

“Really really?”

A sigh, “Really really, Lance.”

Then, a small squeaked out reply, “Me too.”

‘ _Well,_ ’ she thought to herself, ‘ _it could’ve been worse,_ ’

She smiles at them while they’re busy staring at each other’s eyes, sighs in exasperation, and drops a twenty at Keith’s awaiting hand.

 

And as everyone leaves for the night, she sees them again, outside. They’re sitting on one of the benches beside the lamp post, warm light pools on them, lighting up the content adoration on their faces. She sees them with the chocolates Hunk made for them on their lap, fingers sticky with it.

She spies them kissing, soft and sweet from inside her shop and her heart finally feels lighter now that she knows the two of them are going to be just alright.

- _fin-_

**Author's Note:**

> I took three of the prompts provided hsgsghs love this dorks
> 
> I have a [twitter](https://twitter.com/crazydurians)! and check out my other [fics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatchaMochi/works) too! 
> 
> Comments and kudos are highly appreciated!


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